InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ A Tale of Ever After ❯ Chapter 235

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

I do not own InuYasha or any of the characters created by Rumiko Takahashi


Chapter 234


At the headman’s compound, Tameo and Kinjiro watched the hanyou and Susumu walk off towards the main entrance.

“Well, that adds another spin on things,” the headman said. He picked his teacup back up, and he looked at the pale green liquid. “Maybe I should have brought the sake jug with me. I’m not so sure that tea’s strong enough to get me through today.”

“Wouldn’t make making decisions any easier,” Kinjiro said.

“It can make them feel better to make,” Jun said, returning with a filled water bucket. Behind him, Isao, almost bruise free, brought up another one. “I take it I missed something of interest.”

“Oh, you did, husband,” Riki said. She lifted the lid off of the stew she was fixing and gave it a quick stir. “Although I’m sure you’ll hear plenty about it before much longer.”

“Here, Isao-kun,” Jun said, walking to a large wooden barrel. “Let’s get rid of our water and find out what happened.” He dumped his bucket in, then turned to face the others. “Whatever it is, Riki’s stew ought to make it better.”

Riki smiled fondly at her husband, but Kinjiro scowled. “Hmph,” he said. “I wish it could be that easy.”

“A full belly helps many ills, but a bad companion makes them worse,” Tameo said. He put his teacup back down.

“We have enough bad companionship here to bring in a plague,” Kinjiro said.

“You must be talking about Seiji. Only thing today that could get that look out of you, Tameo-sama.” Jun watched Isao pour his share of the water into the barrel and took the bucket from the young man. “Go sit down, son,” he said. “It smells like lunch is about ready.”

“Just about,” Riki said, uncovering the rice pot. A whiff of white steam rose up as she did.

“Ah, Isao-kun. I’m surprised to see you. I thought you were helping Emi-chan,” Tameo said to the boy as he took a seat not too far from the others.

“She sent me back,” the boy said. “She said I ought to eat lunch here. There are a lot of people at Fujime-sama’s. And I saw Jun-sama, and he asked me to help.”

“Well,” Jun said, putting the buckets away and taking a seat next to the boy, “their loss, your gain. You get to eat my wife’s cooking, and that’s worth something, even on a crazy day.”

Isao wiped the tip of his nose with the back of his hand, chasing off a stray hair. “More people seem to be coming over there, too. Right as I was leaving, Masu-sama’s girl Furume walked up. Did something happen by the river?”

Riki began to dish up rice. While Jun and Isao looked on, Tameo stood up. “Kinjiro, tell Jun and Isao-kun about what happened. Nobody talk to Seiji about it yet. I have to think.”

“You’re not going to eat, Tameo-sama?” Riki asked.

“I...later. Right now my appetite has gone walking towards Toshiro’s,” he said. “I think I’ll go follow it.”


While Kinjiro and Tameo talked, InuYasha slowly headed for the front gate with Susumu trailing behind him. His eyes were focused on the ground, and his ears signaled his agitation. Although he almost choked the hilt of Tessaiga on the way out, he avoided even looking at the lockup.  

Koichi looked at the two with some curiosity, and walked towards them.

“My head hurts!” Seiji said from within his cell.  His voice cracked. “What did I do to deserve such a stupid family?”

“Shut up, Seiji,” Koichi said. “What did your family do to deserve you? Think about that for a while.”

“Fuck you,” the man in the lockup said.

Koichi made a rude gesture, then hurried to catch up with the two.

The hanyou stopped and waited as he reached the gate.“I’d like to cure his headache for him permanently.”

Susumu fell in beside him. “Maybe tomorrow. I won’t tell you no. I doubt Chichi-ue would say anything.”

Keeping his voice low, Koichi said, “What happened when you were back there? Sukeo came running out like he was being chased by hell hounds.”

“He overheard something he shouldn’t have,” Susumu said. “Did Seiji notice?”

The farmhand shook his head.

“Well that’s something,” Susumu said. “One less thing for him to be complaining about.”

Koichi leaned on the post to the gateway. “Someone want to tell me what happened? I deserve that much, after putting up with this crap all morning.”

Susumu patted him on the back. “I’ll have to tell Chichi-ue to do something special for you.  You deserve some sort of hero’s reward for all you’ve been through.”

InuYasha shifted from one foot to the other. “Damn man’s wife tried to drown herself. His boy heard me telling Tameo.”

“Ah, damn,” Koichi said, sighing. “That’d be a rough way to learn about it. Is she...”

“We got her out in time. She’s up at Miroku’s.” The hanyou shoved his hands in his sleeves.  
Koichi nodded, sucking on his bottom lip. “I thought today was supposed to be lucky.” He scratched his head, clearly uncertain about how to deal with the new information. “I don’t know...me having to put up with this asshole all morning and now this.”

“Just don’t mention it to him,” Susumu said, resting a hand on the farmworker’s shoulder. “If Chichi-ue wants to, well, that’s up to him. But he doesn’t deserve to know, and we have to make some decisions.”

The older man nodded once again, glancing at the lockup. “Won’t hear it from me. With my luck, that’d make him find his voice all over again. But damn, you know she did what she did because of what type of life he gives her. Hope the elders won’t let that keep going on.”  Shaking his head, he wandered back to his post.

InuYasha watched him return to his post near the lockup. The hanyou’s face was stern, but also marked with confusion. “I can’t believe I didn’t notice that boy was nearby,” he said. The regret and frustration lit up his face. He made a fist, glancing around like he was looking for something to punch. “I...I...”  

Susumu grabbed his hand. “If you need something to hit, I can take you somewhere where we’re getting ready to dig. I’ve seen the hole you leave behind. If you do it here, Hisako-obaasan could trip and fall, or even Matsume-chan. Daisuke-ojiisan might think poorly of you, and no telling what my brother would do.”

InuYasha looked up at the village guard, sighed, and gave him a tiny smile that came nowhere near to his eyes, and he freed his hand. “Hisako would hit me with her stick for sure. Kinjiro...he’d probably try to run me over with that cow of his.”

“No doubt,” Susumu said. “And probably come after me, too, for good measure. Still, as angry as you were when you charged in, I’m not surprised you didn’t notice. You were too busy giving Chichi-ue a piece of your mind.”

The hanyou slumped a little, looking at his hand. “This is the weirdest day. Kids made me wiggle my ears for them this morning.” He looked up at Susumu and gave him a small, wry smile. “Haname actually said something nice to me.” He dropped his hand. “But then this.”

“Auspicious days can be like that,” the village guard said. “Weird things can happen. Makes me wonder if the kami are walking around pulling strings.”

“Even Daitaro says it was the luck that made sure we were there for Maeme.” InuYasha’s ear flicked. “I keep trying to believe it. It must be, because Seiji’s still breathing.”

“Tomorrow’s not supposed to be nearly as lucky,” Susumu noted. “I think whatever’s been keeping him safe today...I think it’s going to look a lot different tomorrow.”

“It better,” InuYasha said darkly.

“So how much of a head start should I give Sukeo?” InuYasha asked.

“I think we’ve given the boy enough. I bet he’s nearly there,” the village guard said. “We can start heading back if you like.”

“You’re coming too?” InuYasha asked, a bit surprised.

“Someone’s got to point you to the right things to punch out,” the village guard said. “And I want to make sure nothing too bad happens after Sukeo finds out. I’m not exactly sure how he’s going to take the news. There’s no way we want him to come back and get into a fight with his otousan. Besides,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck, “Daitaro has the best sake. I suspect I’m going to want a drink by the time we find out what happened when the boy gets there.”

“Keh,” the hanyou said, snorting a little,  but the two men began walking to InuYasha’s side of the village, he cracked a dark grin.“If things get much crazier, you might not be the only one.”



They had barely gotten past the edge of Tameo’s compound when they ran into Koume and her husband Fumio standing in the street, talking to Yaya.  The trio noticed them and waved, but Yaya, looking curious but uncertain, merely bowed towards the two men and headed towards her own house.

“Now what’s up?” InuYasha asked.

“Guess,” Susumu said.  “No doubt word is getting around.”

Fumio, wearing his blacksmith’s apron and carrying a hammer over one shoulder began to walk in their direction, but his wife pushed ahead.

“InuYasha!” Koume said, twisting a kerchief in her hand as she stopped near the two men.  “I’m glad we found you. Is it true?”

The hanyou’s ear flicked as a chicken, disturbed by something nearby, squawked.  The sound was followed by a cat mewing.  Swiveling his ears back forwards, he stopped and stuffed his hands in his sleeves. “Is what true?”

“See?” Susumu said.  “Get ready for more of this.”

Fumio put a hand on his wife’s shoulder and took a step forward.  “A few minutes ago, Furume, Masu’s oldest, came bursting into the forge.  Said something about Houshi-sama fishing Seiji’s woman out of the river.”

“Furume knew?” Susumu said, scratching her head.  “That girl . . . I’ve heard her before.  She comes over to talk with Emi-chan sometimes. She likes to talk almost as much as Houshi-sama.  She’ll be telling everyone.”

“Oh, I don’t know if anybody likes to gossip more than Miroku-sama,” Koume said, stuffing her handkerchief in her sleeve, and smiling a little.  The smile didn’t remove the concern in her eyes. “Still, she seemed quite upset.  She tends to talk even more when she’s like that. I suspect she’ll tell everybody who’ll listen. Is it true?”

“Yeah, it’s true,” InuYasha replied.  “She was there when they spotted Maeme in the river.  Miroku and me, we  fished her out and took her up to his  place.”

“That poor woman.  Her life has been one thing after another since the sickness took out her parents.  She was lucky that you two found her,” Fumio said, shifting his hammer to his other arm.

“I’m not so sure if luck had much to do with why she was there.” InuYasha looked back to Tameo’s place. “I tell you who’s lucky - her no-good piece of crap husband.  He’s in the lockup up driving everybody within earshot crazy with his singing and ranting about his family.  If it wasn’t for Shinjiro’s wedding today, I’d give him something to complain about, treating his woman so bad she tried to kill herself rather than live with him.”

“She . . . she tried to drown herself?” Koume said, covering her mouth with her hand in surprise.  “Furume didn’t mention that.”

“The girl didn’t know.  She left before we found out ourselves,” he replied. Unfolding his arms he clasped the hilt of Tessaiga tightly.

Turning, Koume looked up at her husband.  “I didn’t think she’d ever do something like that . . . She loves her children. She has gone out of her way to protect them from that oni of a husband of hers.  Something . . . something new must have happened. The darkness in her mind must be very strong.”
“It’s hard to know what’s going on with her sometimes,” Fumio said.  “The way he keeps her away from everybody.”

Susumu sighed.  “Ah, Maeme has had a bad lot in life.”  Shaking his head, he looked down at his hands.  “I knew we should have kicked Seiji out after the bandit raids last winter.”

“He’d have just dragged his family with him,” the blacksmith said.  “Who knows what would have happened then?”  He looked at Susumu in the eyes, his bushy brows knitting together. “He’d have probably put her to work in a brothel to get drinking money by now.”

“Daitaro would call that luck,” InuYasha said, shaking his head.

Fumio spat. “I tell you what would be lucky - if the kami would let me give him a taste of my hammer.  That would be real luck.”

“They may have to hold a lottery for the honor,” Susumu said.